Japan's Atomic Energy Agency (AEA) has reported that the China Experimental Fast Reactor (CEFR) stopped generating electricity in October, following an accident. After suffering the consequences of it's own nuclear disaster at Fukushima last year, the report has raised Japanese concerns over the prospect of radiation leaking from the CEFR, located at the China Institute of Atomic Energy near Beijing. The incident has been denied by Chinese sources. more ›

A school bus carrying 46 passengers overturned in a county incorporated in the Jiangsu city of Xuzhou (徐州) at approximately 6pm on Tuesday, with a dozen reported deaths and with 3 out of the 11 injured school bus passengers in critical condition. more ›

This isn't new, but it's funny. Due to all the emergency hammer theft, a few years ago Harbin outfitted all its buses with emergency bricks instead. As always, China finding the simple solution to a simple problem. more ›

A 46-page report from the IPE shows the results of five months of research and field investigations on pollution emission from Apple's factories, revealing that the company has been seriously encroaching on local communities and their surrounding environments. more ›

A suicide bomber blew himself up in a primary school in Anze County, Shanxi Province, killing himself and wounding another 6. Local authorities say that at around 1530 on November 24, Feng Aihong (冯爱红), the suicide bomber detonated his explosives in a local primary school, killing himself on the spot. One teacher and five students who were having sports class were also wounded. However, they suffered only facial burns and there is no danger to their lives. more ›

The State Administration of Work Safety has informed the press that the probe report will be released soon on the website of the official Xinhua News Agency. However, the safety watchdog did not tell the exact date of the report's release, only saying that it won't be "long". more ›

We told you yesterday about a school bus tragedy in Zhengning (正宁) County of Qingyang (庆阳) City in Western China's Gansu province in which a minibus overcrowded with preschoolers crashed with a truck, killing 20 and injuring dozens. Public anger is now rising over the incident, which today topped the list of trending topics on Sina Weibo, China's most popular microblogging platform. more ›

David Pierson of LA Times has the answer, and it all boils down to one thing: Self defense. more ›

Last month's horrifying rear-end collision on the Shanghai Metro saw 284 people hospitalised and while thankfully nobody died from the incident, many questions remain unanswered. more ›

A new study by GfK Automotive has asked Americans of all ages about there automobile buying preferences, and it turns out that not only are the Gen Y (i.e. Harry Potter Generation) kids willing to buy foreign, they're willing to buy Chinese. While only 38% of Americans in general were open to the idea, "looking at younger consumers, 52 percent of Gen Y car shoppers say they would be willing to take a look at a Chinese automobile, and 41 percent would consider an Indian-made vehicle." Whoa, just hold on a second kids. Maybe you're thinking sure, Chinese cars are cheaper and some even come with a built-in karaoke system! But they might want to first take a look at a few videos like this one, or this one. more ›

Last week, train producer CNR announced a recall of 54 of the trains on the Shanghai-Beijing high-speed rail line. Shanghai also announced that all high-speed traffic (G and D trains) would be frozen after August 15 in order to revamp time tables. It seems, however, that train service remains unfrozen, and they have simply replaced the recalled trains. From Xinhua: "China has moved 21 high-speed CRH 380A (L) trains from other railway lines to ensure the operation of the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed railway after 54 trains used on the route were recalled over safety concerns, a train manufacturer said Sunday." At this point, it seems just about everybody involved is scrambling to ensure the trains are running, and that they are running safely. New safety checkpoints have also been installed along the Shanghai-Beijing line. more ›

Feeling nervous about riding the Chinese rails following such a tumultuous, tragic month? You're not alone. Brother Helmet (安全帽哥, ānquán màogē) appeared last week on the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed train with a personal arsenal of safety equipment. So in case you're busy nervously packing for your next bullet train, here's Brother Helmet's list of high-speed survival items: more ›

One of the windows on the ground floor of Plaza 66 shattered yesterday morning, highlighting yet again the imminent threat Shanghai faces from exterior glass around the city. Glass bombs have been happening with increasing frequency, and while a city-wide inspection is underway, Shanghai Daily reports that up to 90% of exterior glass in Shanghai is probably the cheapest stuff money can buy: more ›

On May 17th, 26 year-old Zhou Qin (周琴), a teacher at Guizhou province's Bijiea City Middle School (毕节阿市中学), was at a banquet for government officials where her school principal ordered her to carry out toasts to the official guests, reportedly consuming up to 15 or 16 glasses of 80-proof baiju in the process. Afterwards, Wang Zhonggui (王忠贵, a city rural land resources manager who'd been at the banquet), insisted on giving her a ride home. After she stepped into the car, he drove her to his office where he proceeded to lock the door, molest, and eventually rape her. more ›

Escalators that were shut down around Shanghai over safety concerns following an escalator accident in Beijing last week were reopened today. Authorities are saying that closing the suspect escalators resulted in even more safety concerns from congestion. Says the Shanghai metro operator: "The escalator service suspension has dragged down passenger flow and forced the line to extend train intervals during rush hours, and therefore triggered new capacity problems and safety hazards." Four escalators were reopened in Xinzhuang station, and six will be reopened in the South Shanghai Railway and Xinzhuang stations by this weekend. No word yet on the remaining 12 closed escalators. more ›

Only a day and a half after it was opened, a newly constructed highway in Kunming, Yunnan province collapsed on July 10, killing two and injuring two others. It's being called the "shortest-lived highway ever." While rain was largely blamed for the collapse, it is obvious to observers that both proper testing and proper construction safety measures hadn't been undertaken. more ›

Perhaps there is an official weekly ban-quota we don't know about that needs regular topping up? "Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, has banned electric bikes in main downtown areas as of Monday to reduce related traffic accidents. Electric bikes should be put off roads in districts including Futian, Luohu, Yantian, Nanshan and Bao'an, the city's public security bureau said in a statement Monday. The ban will be effective till December 5 when the city authorities will review it to see if further ban is needed, it said. Electric bike riders will be persuaded off roads this month and face fines of 200 yuan starting next month. Statistics showed electric bikes were blamed for 64 deaths in 268 roads accidents last year. The city has over 500,000 electric bikes and the ban is believed to greatly increase the operational costs of express delivery companies." [Xinhua] more ›

Or at least that's what we can deduce from the recent crash test performed on Chinese automaker Geely's CK1 saloon by Latin American NCAP crash tests. They received a zero out of five stars, and driver protection was labeled as "poor for most body regions." The car has no airbags, as is "standard" for the region apparently, and the NCAP discouraged Geely from simply adding them, stating that the structural weakness of the car was such that they wouldn't do any good anyway. more ›

It's rare that you see such a willingness to display the worst side of a company: On Tuesday night, 42 people were killed and 54 more were injured when Henan Airlines' jet crashed and burst into flames while trying to land in Heilongjiang, China. Sometime between then and today, Henan Airlines changed its website to put the crash front and center. more ›

While we can't say Apple is rotten to the core, it looks like they could use a couple lessons in how to manage their factories better. In the biggest scandal since that Foxconn employee committed suicide, over 2,000 employees at one of the company's industrial parks in Suzhou went on strike over unfair pay and safety conditions. And like any good strike, it involved turning over cars, destroying factory property, and throwing rocks aplenty. more ›

Sometimes it seems as though there is nothing the government can't do. As we know, Beijing is going out of its way to ensure National Day celebrations run as smoothly as possible. With everything planned so meticulously and all those security measures put in place, we would hate for it to rain on our National Day parade. more ›

Months after a building in Minhang literally fell over during construction, the infamous complex has finally been given safety certification by government officials. Of course, living in a newly constructed complex that's already seen a building fall down doesn't inspire much confidence, but it hasn't seemed to deter would-be residents: many of the people who bought flats in the collapsed building decided to take unoccupied flats in the building next door, even though there's a chance of structural damage from the accident. Then again, after a building falls down, you would imagine government inspectors would really inspect the complex. We're just sad we missed the tour. more ›

Welcoming the New Year a tad prematurely, a fireworks stall on a busy Xi-an street ignited, setting off a chain of explosions that went on for about 20 minutes, burned up at least seven cars and reduced about 100 meters of similar fireworks stalls to ashes. more ›

Randy Cohen, New York Times "The Ethicist" columnist, might be inclined to think so. Granted, Cohen's anti-auto podcast from last week is about Manhattan, but several of his arguments already seem applicable to Shanghai (and, in 2020, when our city's subway system looks like this, there will be few ethical excuses for owning personal cars in most of Shanghai). Cohen lays out five reasons why cars and Manhattanites shouldn't mix. Here's No. 1: "Cars kill. If you introduced a transportation system by announcing, 'It'll only kill 40,000 people a year,' it's hard to believe it would gain widespread popularity." (The number of "traffic deaths" in China was down to 73,484 in 2008, but up 100 percent over the last 20 years.) Listen to all New York Times podcasts here or subscribe via iTunes. They're all free. more ›

Following the death of four female students at the Shanghai Business School in Xuhui District, the Shanghai Education Commission has launched an emergency fire safety campaign to be conducted throughout all schools. Students from the dormitory told reporters from the Xinhua News Agency that the fire extinguishers they tried to use were all way past their expiry date and the griefstricken parents are now blaming the college for the death of their daughters. According to Shanghai Daily, an electric heating stick (used to boil water) that was placed on the blanket of one of the girls caused the fire. more ›

Zhou Zhengyu, deputy director of the Beijing municipal committee of communications announced in a recent press conference that the cheap bus fares that Beijingers have been enjoying during the Olympics will continue after the games. more ›

A center for public transportation security is now open at the People's Square subway station. The center, which will be open daily, from 8am to 8pm, aims to teach its visitors about safety issues on subways and buses. Gas masks, flame proof blankets and other safety related products will be on show. So for those of you wondering if your behavior on the subway has been acceptable, here's your chance to find out. [Source] more ›

In an article about official Olympic protest areas, the Wall Street Journal linked to some scanned pages from Olympic Security English, a training manual for Olympic police. We have reproduced those pages for your enjoyment. more ›

This just in from a reader tip. Via the easternmiles.com newsletter: more ›

His name is Chen Jun. He's 18-years-old. And he was captured this morning in rural Anhui province, hundreds of kilometers from Shanghai. Some, actually most, facts are vague: In addition to cash and a laptop computer police say belonged to the victim Diana O'Brien, Chen was allegedly carrying "a weapon." We're also somewhat puzzled by this sentence: "The statement said police narrowed down suspects to Chen after they received reports that a medium-sized man was spotted riding a bicycle near the victim's residence." Police tracked this medium-sized Chinese man with a bicycle from Shanghai to Zhejiang to Anhui. The Shanghai Daily story says Chen confessed to the murder and claimed it was a robbery gone bad, which basically falls right in line with how police framed the incident from the first time they spoke on the matter. The story also says Chen could have at one time worked at a restaurant near O'Brien's apartment complex, reported to be Jinseng Plaza, 490 Zhaohua Road (which seems to be in Xuhui District, not Changning District, or Chongming Island, as was previously reported). We also learn that O'Brien "was found stabbed to death in her apartment building's stairwell" early Monday morning. We hope more pieces of the investigation puzzle will arrive soon. Foreign media all seem to have the same vague details so far. You can find two Chinese TV reports here and here. [Previous Shanghaiist reports here and here] more ›